Developmental milestones

[Skadi]

Keira was born January 9th - 11 weeks early. She is an adjusted age of 6 days. At my family Dr appointment today they were asking about her behaviour and obviously checking developmental milestones. She smiled AND cooed at the nurse practitioner... Smiling socially they look for at 1 month, cooing at 2 months. She then asked me about what she does when put on her tummy. She usually will push up with her arms and hold her neck and head up to look around if she isn't tired... she said that she is developmentally an actual 3 month old! I was always told that she would be behind and wouldn't hit the milestones until her adjusted age.

Then the real kicker was this afternoon I put her down on her tummy while she was wide awake and she rolled herself right over to her back within about 5 seconds. I couldn't believe it and thought it was just an accident so I put her back on her tummy and she did it again! They told me she would start doing that at 4 months! What is going on?!

Anyone else's preemie doing these things so early? She still sleeps a LOT - I would say she is awake and very active maybe 4-5 hrs a day and is still tiny. (7lbs 12 ounces as of today!) In that way it is obvious she is a preemie but in others you would never guess!

Obviously I know this isn't something to really worry about, but I am pretty baffled by it!

 

[amberlindsay7]

Hi - congrats; she sounds like a right little superstar! I can't speak from experience for the smiling because Ethan hasn't started doing that yet, but the rolling and lifting head milestones often happen in preemies early because they are much lighter - you may therefore find she can't roll over once she puts on a bit more weight. I was shocked when Ethan rolled over on what should have been his due date; but sadly, he struggles to do it now that he's almost 3lbs heavier...not that I don't keep trying to get him to do it again ;-) x

 

[Skadi]

She is! That makes a lot of sense about the weight, I was really trying to make sense of how she could be THAT far ahead!

 

[toothfairyx]

Jamie used to do the rolling thing at that stage - it is a weight thing as their heads give them the momentum rather than a deliberate thing as Amber says once he got heavier it stopped for a bit.

 

[Skadi]

Well she was using her one arm to push herself on to her side so it seems deliberate but who knows. It makes sense it would be a weight thing although she is almost 8 lbs now...

 

[stepmum]

Thats fab hun

It is amazing what these little babies can do when they have the odds against them.

My LO also rolled quite early on and we haven't had to go for check ups since he was 6 months actual They said you would never know he was prem at all. He's more than caught up weight/size wise and everyone is shocked when I tell them he was born at 32 weeks.

Developmentally my LO did start to seem behind with regards to sitting up/crawling/babbling etc but if I'm honest he's not behind, he's just at the later end of the age range expected for the milestones if that makes sense and if I go by his adjusted age he's probably right on target I also agree over the rolling thing, my LO did it early on and then he seemed to "forget" how to do it for a while he's now back to being a roly-poly.

Congratulations though hun, I hope LO keeps on astounding you

 

[confused87com]

my lil one has consistently done things ' earlier' i dont believe that every preemie is behind. He does everything a term baby his actual age does, but he just weighs 16 lb so is tiny to do it. He rolls, crawls, cruises,
had our 1yr consultant review and she saw him sitting adn said 'is he just about sitting?' ....u shud have seen her face whenhe crawled to me and pulled himself up my legs!
every baby is different and it rele gets to me when people say ' oh he wont always be behind!'........looking at him, i'd say he is ahead!
Every baby is different, my lil man sat up at 6 months actual....he shud have only been 3 months! he smiled at 4 days before his due date!
Dont believe all u here about preemies, they are amazing little fighters and we are all so blessed to have them

 

[lynne192]

sounds like your baby is a quick one huge congratulations i hear premmie girls are better and quicker than premmie boys my DS is almost 5 years old and mentally only about 3-4years old on most things, he smiled quickly but never really talked much at all, he was very very quiet as a baby almost never cried, he was over a year before he started sitting, was almost 2when he walked.

 

[SabrinaKat]

I posted elsewhere, but Finn had his eight week check-up last week (seven weeks old, but three weeks adjusted) and passed all the social alnd developmental skills for his chronological age, except needs some more tummy time (is now able, a week later to lift his head and look around, so yeah!) He's very social and loves to babble away to us, we are sooooooooo pleased! He's also on target for his weight gain and is a little taller/longer than on-target (his daddy is 6 feet tall, so normal for his family), so I think that preemies, especially those who are extra cuddled in NICU and at home, really do develop quickly!

I am, of course, so relieved that all is well with my little man!

best wishes

 

[Skadi]

Well we have a growth and development appointment on April 12th so we will see what they say. It is amazing to hear of other preemies doing so well too!

 

[nicmum2b]

I'm glad you posted this because this was the reason I logged into the site today...

My baby girl was born 2 months early, weighing in at just 3lbs. She was a real fighter then and was home just over 1 month of staying in intensive care. Now she's almost 6 months old, and she's doing so well it's unreal. I started her on solids at 4 months (2 months corrected), and she was definitely ready, now she's ready for finger foods. She rolls onto her sides, and will roll from her front to her back. She loves playing with toys and watching the tv. And at the moment, she's learning to sit up by herself. She actually (I was so shocked), I put her on the floor in the sitting position, and she grabbed onto my legs and sat there for ages. I was so amazed and so proud. It just goes to show that your prem baby can do things that full term babies can do, and every baby including prem babies, learn and grow at their own pace. Our doctors usually see a prem baby until they are 2, but ours have discharged her and said there's no point in going by her corrected age anymore either, she's doing everything a baby her age should be doing!!

Just wanna say well done to you for having such an early baby - it really is emotionally difficult and hard work.xx

 

[Skadi]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYAvVm1O1t4&feature=youtu.be